Continuing the Selfridges theme from our last post, this is from Sarah, our Museum curator:
As a present for Christmas in 1945, Mrs P.P Gait was given a pair of soft brown leather gloves. In November 1989, she donated them to our Museum, with a covering letter that explained that the gloves…
‘….are now nearly 45 years old. It says much for materials and workmanship of bygone days, when I tell you that I have never had to put a stitch in them, and that despite the fact that I have worn them for part of every winter since receiving them.’
Her gloves are brown leather with pique seams and 3 points (4 needle point). They are lined with chamois and have a turned top, with 2 rows of stitching.
What is most fascinating about these gloves is that on the inside of the left hand glove there is printed information: Dents D.B.M, Worcester Make, 6 ½ and on the inside of the right hand glove there is printed information: Selfridges, London.
Selfridges was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge and the store in London’s Oxford Street opened on 15 March 1909. It is the second largest shop in the UK, after Harrods. These gloves reveal evidence that some 36 years after Selfridges opening you could buy gloves made by Dents in the department store, just after WWII or perhaps they had been bought a few years earlier and been kept hidden away!
Sarah
Dents Museum Curator
Dents Museum contains gloves worn by many historical figures, including Lord Nelson, Queen Elizabeth I, Empress Josephine of France and Queen Victoria as well as many examples of gloves from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. There is also a collection of antique specialised sewing machines, glove making tools, and a wealth of photographs and documents dating back to the 1890’s. We plan to showcase the Museum in a special section on our website, and also to present regular features on this blog of some interesting gloves in our collection.
Dents has loaned a number of gloves belonging to past kings and queens of England to Selfridges London flagship as part of the store’s Big British Bang exhibition, which is in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics this year. The exhibit features a collection of royal gloves that have never been publicly displayed before, and runs from May 4 to June 17 at Selfridges ground floor concept store. This is from yesterday’s Mail Online:
HRH The Princess Royal’s recent visit to Dents glove factory (“the first new glove factory in Great Britain for 150 years”) was featured on both BBC and ITV – just click on the links to view.
And, there are some great pictures of the visit on Warminster Web.
The media was out in force for HRH the Princess Royal’s visit to Dents.
They were attracted not only by the royal visit, but also by Dents’ continued success during very difficult times for British manufacturing.
With BBC TV, ITV, BBC Radio and local radio in attendance, along with several photographers and reporters from various print and online media, journalists were everywhere. Ms Deborah Moore and Dents Marketing Consultant Mr John Roberts headed a long list of Dents personnel who were interviewed for television and radio. Tony Foreman, who has been with Dents for 47 years, was interviewed about sales and the new distribution facilities, John Cundick, who
started with Dents in 1949, spoke about the remarkable changes that have taken place over the years; Sally Norris and Lily Munday, who have both been with Dents for well over 40 years, demonstrated their hand sewing techniques to fascinated camera crews; and even our honoured overseas agents and visitors were pulled in, with Mr Nagabuchi from Japan managing an excellent interview despite limited English.
The effort and co-operation by everyone at Dents on the day ensured the visit by HRH the Princess Royal went without a hitch, and the celebrations at a dance for the staff that evening were well deserved. The visit had been a resounding success!
Last Friday was a wonderful day for Dents! HRH The Princess Royal honoured the company by visiting our brand new £4 million factory complex in Warminster, Wiltshire, and officially opening the new head offices with the unveiling of a plaque.
After days of rain and biting winds, the skies cleared and at 9.50am sharp the Royal helicopter soared over the building. Minutes later HRH The Princess Royal arrived at Dents and the visit had begun!
Our Creative Director Deborah Moore hosted the visit, and after early introductions, she accompanied the Princess Royal to various departments within the company, including the factory, the design department and our fascinating museum.
The Princess Royal stopped to talk to many members of staff, and was particularly interested in meeting the leather selectors and hand sewers in the factory, and learning about Dents 2012 Collections from the design team. She chatted to many of Dents’ longest serving employees, and met a number of guests, including Dents overseas agents Mr Nagabuchi from Japan, Mr Kenny Kang from Korea and Ms Carole De Schepper from Belgium.
The museum was of particular interest to The Princess Royal, especially the photograph of the visit of His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, to Dents in 1923, the Coronation Glove made for Queen Elizabeth II, and also the gloves worn by Queen Elizabeth I and Lord Nelson.
Her Royal Highness was presented with a donation to the Princess Anne’s Charities Trust, and a pair of Dents leather gloves.
All in all it was a wonderfully happy day, and it was all over far too quickly.
